Definition and research guide
This page combines a MeSH definition, publication statistics and selected research abstracts. It is a starting point for reading the literature, not a medical textbook or a systematic evidence review.
Content available: 4 complete abstracts (703 words), 10 references. Full article text is not stored or reproduced here; follow the PMID, DOI or PMC links to read the original sources and their access terms.
Definition
Electrodes with an extremely small tip, used in a voltage clamp or other apparatus to stimulate or record bioelectric potentials of single cells intracellularly or extracellularly. (Dorland, 28th ed)
Definition: NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) scope note (Public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine); attribution requested). View the MeSH record.
Also known as: Microelectrode; Electrodes, Miniaturized; Electrode, Miniaturized; Miniaturized Electrode; Miniaturized Electrodes.
Where it fits in the MeSH classification
- Broader topics
- Electrodes
Research landscape
PubMed indexes 17,044 records tagged with the MeSH heading “Microelectrodes” (counts retrieved 2026-11-04). 1,455 of them (8.5%) were published from 2020 onward, and the busiest period so far is through 1999 with 7,747 records.
Reviews account for 633 records (3.7%) and meta-analyses for 7. Randomized controlled trials number 33 (0.2%) as a share of all records on the topic. Randomized trials make up only a small share of this literature, so much of what is known comes from laboratory, observational or descriptive work.
Show the data
| Period | Records |
|---|---|
| through 1999 | 7,747 |
| 2000-2009 | 4,089 |
| 2010-2019 | 3,753 |
| 2020 onward | 1,455 |
Publication-type chart data
| Type | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 633 | 3.7% |
| Meta-analyses | 7 | 0.0% |
| Randomized controlled trials | 33 | 0.2% |
Method: PubMed query "Microelectrodes"[MeSH Terms] with publication-type and date filters, retrieved 2026-11-04.
Reading the evidence in diagnostics and medical technology
A test or device is judged by how well it detects a condition, how often it gives false alarms or misses cases, and whether using it improves outcomes for people. Accuracy depends on who is tested and how common the condition is, so a test that performs well in a specialist hospital can perform differently in the community. Check the reference standard, the population studied, the sensitivity and specificity and whether results were confirmed in a separate group.
Evidence from open-access studies
These open-access studies come from PubMed’s best-match results for this heading (papers whose main topic it is), ranked here by citation count, with one recent addition. Each abstract is reproduced in full under its recorded open licence so that you can read the authors’ own words. They illustrate the literature; they are not a systematic summary of it. Citation counts measure attention, not reliability or clinical benefit.
| Study / authors | Year | Source label / design | Europe PMC citations | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Challenges and opportunities for large-scale electrophysiology with Neuropixels probes | 2018 | Review article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 265 | cc by PMID 29444488 · DOI · PMC5999351 |
| Proprioceptive and cutaneous sensations in humans elicited by intracortical microstimulation | 2018 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 213 | cc by PMID 29633714 · DOI · PMC5896877 |
| Slow insertion of silicon probes improves the quality of acute neuronal recordings | 2019 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 99 | cc by PMID 30643182 · DOI · PMC6331571 |
| Oxygen Consumption in Filamentous Pellets of Aspergillus niger: Microelectrode Measurements and Modeling | 2025 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 5 | cc by PMID 39497268 · DOI · PMC11718433 |
Challenges and opportunities for large-scale electrophysiology with Neuropixels probes [1]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Electrophysiological methods are the gold standard in neuroscience because they reveal the activity of individual neurons at high temporal resolution and in arbitrary brain locations.
- Closing excerpt
- Here we discuss the opportunities afforded by these probes for large-scale electrophysiology, the challenges associated with data processing and anatomical localization, and avenues for further improvements of the technology.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (110 words)
Electrophysiological methods are the gold standard in neuroscience because they reveal the activity of individual neurons at high temporal resolution and in arbitrary brain locations. Microelectrode arrays based on complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, such as Neuropixels probes, look set to transform these methods. Neuropixels probes provide ∼1000 recording sites on an extremely narrow shank, with on-board amplification, digitization, and multiplexing. They deliver low-noise recordings from hundreds of neurons, providing a step change in the type of data available to neuroscientists. Here we discuss the opportunities afforded by these probes for large-scale electrophysiology, the challenges associated with data processing and anatomical localization, and avenues for further improvements of the technology.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 29444488 · DOI · PMC5999351
Proprioceptive and cutaneous sensations in humans elicited by intracortical microstimulation [2]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Pioneering work with nonhuman primates and recent human studies established intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) in primary somatosensory cortex (S1) as a method of inducing discriminable artificial sensation.
- Closing excerpt
- Furthermore, delivering both cutaneous and proprioceptive sensations through artificial somatosensory feedback could improve performance and embodiment in brain-machine interfaces.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (150 words)
Pioneering work with nonhuman primates and recent human studies established intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) in primary somatosensory cortex (S1) as a method of inducing discriminable artificial sensation. However, these artificial sensations do not yet provide the breadth of cutaneous and proprioceptive percepts available through natural stimulation. In a tetraplegic human with two microelectrode arrays implanted in S1, we report replicable elicitations of sensations in both the cutaneous and proprioceptive modalities localized to the contralateral arm, dependent on both amplitude and frequency of stimulation. Furthermore, we found a subset of electrodes that exhibited multimodal properties, and that proprioceptive percepts on these electrodes were associated with higher amplitudes, irrespective of the frequency. These novel results demonstrate the ability to provide naturalistic percepts through ICMS that can more closely mimic the body's natural physiological capabilities. Furthermore, delivering both cutaneous and proprioceptive sensations through artificial somatosensory feedback could improve performance and embodiment in brain-machine interfaces.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 29633714 · DOI · PMC5896877
Slow insertion of silicon probes improves the quality of acute neuronal recordings [3]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Neural probes designed for extracellular recording of brain electrical activity are traditionally implanted with an insertion speed between 1 µm/s and 1 mm/s into the brain tissue.
- Closing excerpt
- Our findings suggest that advancing rigid probes slowly (~1 µm/s) into the brain tissue might result in less tissue damage, and thus in neuronal recordings of improved quality compared with measurements obtained after inserting probes with higher speeds.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (233 words)
Neural probes designed for extracellular recording of brain electrical activity are traditionally implanted with an insertion speed between 1 µm/s and 1 mm/s into the brain tissue. Although the physical effects of insertion speed on the tissue are well studied, there is a lack of research investigating how the quality of the acquired electrophysiological signal depends on the speed of probe insertion. In this study, we used four different insertion speeds (0.002 mm/s, 0.02 mm/s, 0.1 mm/s, 1 mm/s) to implant high-density silicon probes into deep layers of the somatosensory cortex of ketamine/xylazine anesthetized rats. After implantation, various qualitative and quantitative properties of the recorded cortical activity were compared across different speeds in an acute manner. Our results demonstrate that after the slowest insertion both the signal-to-noise ratio and the number of separable single units were significantly higher compared with those measured after inserting probes at faster speeds. Furthermore, the amplitude of recorded spikes as well as the quality of single unit clusters showed similar speed-dependent differences. Post hoc quantification of the neuronal density around the probe track showed a significantly higher number of NeuN-labelled cells after the slowest insertion compared with the fastest insertion. Our findings suggest that advancing rigid probes slowly (~1 µm/s) into the brain tissue might result in less tissue damage, and thus in neuronal recordings of improved quality compared with measurements obtained after inserting probes with higher speeds.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 30643182 · DOI · PMC6331571
Oxygen Consumption in Filamentous Pellets of Aspergillus niger: Microelectrode Measurements and Modeling [4]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Filamentous fungi cultivated as biopellets are well established in biotechnology industries.
- Closing excerpt
- The study lays the foundation for understanding oxygen supply in fungal pellets and optimizing processes and pellet morphologies accordingly.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (210 words)
Filamentous fungi cultivated as biopellets are well established in biotechnology industries. A distinctive feature of filamentous fungi is that hyphal growth and fungal morphology affect product titers and require tailored process conditions. Within the pellet, mass transfer, substrate consumption, and biomass formation are intricately linked to the local hyphal fraction and pellet size. This study combined oxygen concentration measurements with microelectrode profiling and three-dimensional X-ray microtomography measurements of the same fungal pellets for the first time. This allowed for the precise correlation of micromorphological information with local oxygen concentrations of two Aspergillus niger strains (hyperbranching and regular branching). The generated results showed that the identified oxygen-penetrated outer pellet regions exhibited a depth of 90-290 µm, strain-specific, with the active part percentage in the pellet ranging from 18% to 69%, without any difference between strains. Using a 1D continuum diffusion consumption model, the oxygen concentration in the pellets was computed depending on the local hyphal fraction. The best simulation results were achieved by individually estimating the oxygen-related biomass yield coefficient of the consumption term within each examined pellet, with an average estimated value of 1.95 (± 0.72) kg biomass per kg oxygen. The study lays the foundation for understanding oxygen supply in fungal pellets and optimizing processes and pellet morphologies accordingly.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 39497268 · DOI · PMC11718433
Key reviews and meta-analyses
The most cited review-type papers among PubMed’s best-match results for this heading, listed with bibliographic details only. Follow the links for the full text and access terms.
- Research article Progress, challenges, and opportunities in two-dimensional materials beyond graphene [5]
- Research article Neural stimulation and recording electrodes [6]
- Research article Large-scale recording of neuronal ensembles [7]
- Research article Multi-electrode array technologies for neuroscience and cardiology [8]
- Research article Electron transport in molecular junctions [9]
- Research article Brain tissue responses to neural implants impact signal sensitivity and intervention strategies [10]
References
- Steinmetz NA, Koch C, Harris KD, Carandini M. Challenges and opportunities for large-scale electrophysiology with Neuropixels probes. . 2018. PMID 29444488 · DOI · PMC5999351
- Armenta Salas M, Bashford L, Kellis S, Jafari M, Jo H, Kramer D, et al.. Proprioceptive and cutaneous sensations in humans elicited by intracortical microstimulation. . 2018. PMID 29633714 · DOI · PMC5896877
- Fiáth R, Márton AL, Mátyás F, Pinke D, Márton G, Tóth K, et al.. Slow insertion of silicon probes improves the quality of acute neuronal recordings. . 2019. PMID 30643182 · DOI · PMC6331571
- Deffur C, Dinius A, Pagel J, Müller H, Schmideder S, Briesen H, et al.. Oxygen Consumption in Filamentous Pellets of Aspergillus niger: Microelectrode Measurements and Modeling. . 2025. PMID 39497268 · DOI · PMC11718433
- Butler SZ, Hollen SM, Cao L, Cui Y, Gupta JA, Gutiérrez HR, et al.. Progress, challenges, and opportunities in two-dimensional materials beyond graphene. ACS Nano. 2013. PMID 23464873 · DOI
- Cogan SF. Neural stimulation and recording electrodes. Annu Rev Biomed Eng. 2008. PMID 18429704 · DOI
- Buzsáki G. Large-scale recording of neuronal ensembles. Nat Neurosci. 2004. PMID 15114356 · DOI
- Spira ME, Hai A. Multi-electrode array technologies for neuroscience and cardiology. Nat Nanotechnol. 2013. PMID 23380931 · DOI
- Tao NJ. Electron transport in molecular junctions. Nat Nanotechnol. 2006. PMID 18654182 · DOI
- Kozai TD, Jaquins-Gerstl AS, Vazquez AL, Michael AC, Cui XT. Brain tissue responses to neural implants impact signal sensitivity and intervention strategies. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2015. PMID 25546652 · DOI · PMC4304489
About this article
- Sources
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (definition, synonyms); NCBI PubMed (counts, identifiers); Europe PMC (open-access abstracts and citation counts).
- Verification
- Every reference was resolved against PubMed on 2026-11-04; title, year and DOI matched.
- Review state
- automated source verified; no human expert review has been recorded yet.
- Version
- 1, last updated 2026-11-04.
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Evidence strength
EvidenceHelix's computed view of the study designs behind this topic: how common meta-analyses, randomized trials and reviews are, how recent the literature is, and a plain-language reading. It describes the design mix of the literature. It is not a quality appraisal of any study, and it is not medical advice.